RESULTS:

Central motion perception was significantly impaired in patients with glaucoma; in particular, the Dmin was nearly twice that for the normal subjects (glaucoma mean, -0.27 +/- 0.24 log minutes of arc; normal mean, -0.56 +/- 0.13 log minutes of arc; F = 21.79, P < 0.001). Furthermore, Dmin values fell outside the normal range in 10 of the 15 patients with glaucoma, despite normal visual acuity and normal foveal perimetric thresholds. Coherence thresholds and Dmax did not discriminate between patients with glaucoma and normal subjects. Dmin was not correlated with any indices of perimetric sensitivity, and none of the tests of motion perception showed any abnormalities in patients in whom glaucoma was suspected.

CONCLUSIONS:

Central motion perception can be affected in glaucoma and may reflect preferential damage to larger retinal ganglion cells. Future work will measure Dmin in a larger population of patients with suspected glaucoma and those with glaucoma, and investigate peripheral motion perception in glaucoma.